


River of Blue Fire

by bathandbodyworks



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, First Meetings, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, bruce dont be a dick please thanks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19407958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bathandbodyworks/pseuds/bathandbodyworks
Summary: Jason is fire and Dick is ice, and eventually, they collide.Dick and Jason meet for the first time.





	River of Blue Fire

**Author's Note:**

> this is an au purely because dick and bruce get along and  
> bruce is at least slightly emotionally sound 
> 
>   
> working title: sup bruh

Jason is like fire to his ice, demanding and rough to his smooth and impenetrable facade. 

Jason enters the room Dick’s standing in like gunpowder to a barrel; there like it belongs, even when it’s not the intended purpose. But, Dick figures that’s the problem with intended purpose, you change ‘em up until no one even remembers why they’re there anymore. 

Jason just stands there, still and nervous and angry and determined, glancing between Bruce and him every few seconds. Bruce looks down at Jason, his face stoic as ever. 

“Is this the new kid?” Dick asks Bruce, barely taking in Jason’s face. Jason’s body language is all he reads. He learns more from less with body language, the eyes the only part of the face he truly gives a damn about. 

Bruce nods. “This is Jason.”

Jason pipes up. “Hey,” he calls out, eyes locked on Dick’s, “If you’re gonna ask a question about me, ask me, dickhead.” 

“Jason,” Bruce growls out, his voice deepening. Bruce places a hand on Jason’s shoulder, and the light from the Batcave illuminates it to Dick’s eyes. 

“Oops,” Jason says without a hint of an apology, eyes locked hard on Dick, and Dick sighs. 

“Heard he found you jacking his car tires.”

“Yeah? And?”

“Takes guts.” Dick steps towards the computer, which seems to have gotten even bigger in the time Dick’s been away, and scans the serial killer case displayed. 

“You fu– freaking know it,” Jason says, catching himself. He glances up at Bruce, grinning awkwardly momentarily before flattening out his lips again. 

“Bruce,” Dick says without looking at Bruce behind him, “this looks a lot like the Carr case from Year 6.” 

Dick feels more than he sees Bruce’s presence beside him in front of the computer monitors. “That’s part of why I called you here. You were more intimately involved in it than I was.”

“Do you want me to review what you found and look for suspects?” 

Bruce grunts in affirmation, and Dick turns around at Jason’s voice behind him.

“Year 6?” 

“The sixth year of Batman. Year 4 for me.” Dick laughs, a weird combination of subtle sadness and self-deprecation. “Oh my God, Bruce, we’re in Year 10. I’m so old.”

_Ten years_ , Dick thinks, and mentally sighs. Eight years of vigilanting, and he’s somehow not dead. He’s been shot and beat, tortured, almost-drowned, electrocuted beyond belief, and somehow, he’s still alive and kicking ass. 

“You’re not old, Dick,” Bruce says stoically. 

“No, you’re old,” Jason helpfully pipes in. 

Dick turns around quickly to face Jason. “Aren’t you like, 11?”

Jason gives him the middle finger before replying. “I’m 14, dickhead.”

“Jason,” Bruce grunts out while typing furiously from the computer. 

“Older than I was when I started,” Dick says half-heartedly with a shrug. He leans back on part of a desk, the cold metal of it digging into this palms. 

“Yeah, I can tell you. You were short as shit when you were Robin.” Jason’s arms are crossed, and Dick almost smiles at how cute (and he means that in the most ‘cute in an abandoned cat way’ possible) he is.

“You’re barely 5 feet tall, kid,” Dick says. The ‘kid’ slips out, and it feels awkward coming from Dick’s mouth when he’s only legally been an adult for so little time, and still feels as if he’s just another abandoned orphan half the time. 

“I swear to God, if you don’t shut the hell up, I’m _at least_ 5 foot 4 inches, I’m still fucking growing, unlike some of us,” Jason points his finger at Dick, eyes scanning him up and down. 

Bruce turns to the two of them. “Jason, go upstairs. Alfred could use help cooking dinner.” Bruce looks so paternal, and Dick frowns slightly at the thought that it took years of struggling to raise him before Bruce got any clue as to what he was doing. 

“Whatever. I like Alfred better than you anyways.” Jason shrugs and makes his way toward the elevator up to the main house. He stops to turn around and points at Dick. “Is he staying?” There’s something accusatory in his voice that Dick can’t place; he can’t quite tell if it’s Jason trying to convince himself he’s better than Dick by implying that Dick isn’t really a part of Bruce’s life or the manor anymore, or if Jason is genuinely curious.

“No,” Bruce replies, and Dick looks at him. 

“Maybe I am,” Dick says with a smirk. He crosses his arms, and winks at Jason, who dashes across the cave floor in response. 

Dick turns to Bruce. “He’s cute. I like him.” He can’t seem to make himself care if Jason hears.

Bruce nods. “He’s angry, but he knows what he wants.”

“A lot like someone else I know,” Dick replies.

“A lot like you.”

Dick shrugs. “I was thinking someone more like you, Bruce.”

“Maybe. He’s got potential. A future, if he really wants it.” Bruce turns towards Dick again, glancing at the slightly charred right shoulder of his uniform, and the lengthier state of his hair. 

Something builds in Dick’s throat. “Good. That’s– that’s really good for him.” 

Bruce nods once again. “Alfred says he’s like a fire. Burning everything he can.”

”That’s oxidation for you, I guess.”

“Maybe.”

Dick grabs a chair from the desk, pulling it out so he can sit. He turns the chair around so that he straddles the backrest, and pushes back against the desk to propel himself across the floor. 

There’s a moment of silence before Dick speaks. “Any other leads?”

“A couple,” Bruce says, and Dick looks up at the monitors, and swallows something hot down into his throat before clicking on a file.

From across the cave, Dick hears light footsteps pound across the floor.

“Okay, cool, I’ll, uh, take a look.”

**Author's Note:**

> haha this kinda sucked but i haven’t written narratively in... months, maybe? idk, just kinda wanted to post this since i haven’t posted anything since like january. anyways, hope u enjoyed regardless!!! feel free to leave comments and/or kudos.


End file.
